Next gen console comparison: PS4 already ahead

24 May 2013

With the recent unveiling of “Xbox One“, we now have information on the three Next-Gen consoles: the Wii U, the Xbox One, and the PS4. Of course there’s a lot more to be discovered, but we thought an early next gen console comparison was in order.

THE SPECS

The Wii U has been out for several months now, and it doesn’t even come close to it’s Xbox and Playstation counterparts. The Wii U isn’t designed to be playing high intensity sandbox games with unbelievable graphics, it’s designed to have simple and fun games for all ages. It’s a console for the casual gamer, looking to have some fun when they’re not doing anything.

The PS4 is nothing like that. The PS4 is pumped full of raw power and energy, capable of running high-end games with ease. The PS4 runs 1152 SPs at 800MHz, essentially meaning that it was built for power beauty.

The Xbox One is designed to be an all-in-one console, so that you never need anything else in your house. The Xbox runs 768 SPs at 800MHz – which is enough to annihilate it’s predecessor and handle great things, but not with the ease or style that the PS4 can.

Winner: PS4

DESIGN

The Wii U has a simple but modern design, much like the Wii. The rounded edges give it a more playful feel, and it’s size allows it to take up minimal space, although the ton of wiring is a drawback.

The PS4 will be releasing the design on June 10th, so we really don’t know what to expect. Sorry guys, but we know nothing.

The Xbox One has the look of a shiny DVD player from 2003, with random streaks of silver to make it appear pricier. While we can’t discredit it for being a box, we can discredit it for being pretty damn big in terms of consoles.

Winner: Wii U

LAUNCH LINE-UP

The Wii U released with the obligatory Nintendo Land, Zombii U, and Super Mario. Whilst great ways to show off the Wii U’s capabilities, they’re not games that will keep you entertained for long durations of time, and their novelty quickly wears off.

The PS4’s line-up will most likely consist of Watch Dogs, Killzone and Drive Club. Other games will probably be included as well, but these are what I see as the most likely. These are games that will keep you interested long enough for new games to be released, yet still be good enough to show off what the PS4 is capable of.

The Xbox One’s unveiling confirmed EA would be releasing there next line of yearly games (Fifa, NFL, NBA and UFC) with their new “Ignite” engine. Forza will be the opening race game (as opposed to Project Gotham which opened for the other consoles) and will do a fantastic job of showing just how good the Xbox One is. The only problem here is that these games are all old, nothing new as of yet.

Winner: PS4

NEW FEATURES

The Wii U had the gamepad – a touchscreen controller. Not much else, but that’s still pretty awesome.

The PS4 will host a bunch of new features, like the ability to render older PlayStation games and stream them to the PS4 thanks to Gaikai. Gamers will also be able to click the SHARE button on the controller, cycle through the last minutes of gameplay and then share a video, either to a website or to other PSN users; livestreaming is also available thanks to services such as Ustream, allowing friends to view and comment on them. Playstation Move will be making a comeback, along with a new camera system as well.

The Xbox One really outdid itself on new features. We’ve got trends for everything, cloud servers for game recordings (and Microsoft even says that it will help in games rendering), panel switching, panel locking, live TV, a new Xbox Live, and much more. The Kinect 2.0 has been improved and this time it will be a mandatory peripheral, whether you want it or not.

Winner: Xbox One and PS4 tie

Overall, we’re looking at a fantastic generation of consoles, but with innovation comes failure. I’m not a fan of the big part movement and voice commands will be playing, but it could lead to brilliance in future consoles.

Fanatic (despite uselessness) of gaming and tech in general. I have the majority of Nintendo consoles, along with the Xbox consoles and a PS2, although Crazy Taxi remains my favourite game after over a decade.

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heavenshitman1

To declare WiiU incapable of anything beyond simplistic ‘non sand box’ games that will underwhelm is a poor analysis of its capabilities. Proven by the fact that PS3/360 sported awe inspiring games, some that have built benchmarks in a number of genres.
And things like Watch Dogs is a bit unfair as declared a launch title seeing as WiiU will get it round the same time.
PS4 and XBOX One are both set to cost fortunes

MrJpg

heavenshitman1 With the “Sandbox” remark, it was more to do with the quality of graphics that comes with them. The Wii U appeared to struggle with Darksiders (unlike my Xbox 360) and so I felt that if it struggled with what the last generation could handle, newer games may be a much harder task (although this could be down to how it was ported).
As for Watch Dogs, that’s an error on my part. I wrote down what I remembered the PS4 would be releasing with, and forgot that it was releasing on all consoles at a similar date.
With pricing you have to look at the value of what you’re getting. The Wii U was cheaper, but are you getting your money back with how much you use it? From my perspective, no – whereas the PS4 and Xbox One look to be better options. Of course this differs between people, as a family or casual gamer may feel that the Wii U is what they would use most.

FSThree

I have to disagree that the WiiU is for the casual gamer. Similar to what heavenshitman1 says, the console can handle what the 360 and PS3 can and a little more. It’s just a matter of developers going heads down and really digging into what the hardware can do. The fact that they aren’t is another issue all together.

I love my WiiU. I most likely will get a XBO and PS4 later down the line. Nintendo will sustain me until the new roided up consoles drop their price. Just sayin’.